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Luger pistol
The Parabellum-Pistole (Pistol Parabellum), popularly known as the Luger pistol is a semi-automatic self-loading pistol patented by Georg Luger in 1898 and manufactured by Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken (DWM) starting in 1900. It was a popular military and civilian handgun of the first half of the 20th century. The basic design and its variants are also known under a variety of civilian and military designations (e.g. Ordonnanzpistole 00, and P08). In modern times it has been popularized through its use by Germany during World War I and World War II, though it was also used by many other countries. It is notable in firearms history for being the pistol for which the 9mm Parabellum cartridge was originally developed, though the Luger pistol was first introduced with a 7.65mm Parabellum cartridge and has also been chambered for other cartridges, including the .45 ACP. The Luger pistol is a semi-automatic toggle lock pistol based on principles by Hiram Maxim that is fed by a removable magazine, and that operates on the short-recoil principle. Designed by Georg Luger, it was an evolution of the earlier Hugo Borchardt design, the Borchardt C-93 (introduced in 1898). History The Parabellum pistole was developed by Georg Luger in Germany in 1898. The Parabellum name comes from the ancient Latin saying "Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum" - if you want Peace, prepare for war. The Lugers' design is based on an earlier Hugo Borchard idea, but Luger re-designed Borchards' locking system into much smaller package. Most pre-WW II Parabellums were developed by the DWM company in Germany, with some being manufactured under license in other countries. During WW II, many companies, such as Waffenfabrik Mauser and others, also produced Lugers, several countries have also made their own different versions of the Luger. The first country to adopt Lugers was Switzerland - they adopted the model 1900 Lugers, chambered in 7.65mm Luger/Parabellum round. In 1902 the DWM, along with Luger, by request of German Navy developed new round, 9x19mm Luger/Parabellum, one of the most common pistol cartridges of the world, by re-necking the case of the 7.65mm Luger round. The Luger model 1904, in 9mm, was adopted by German Navy, followed by the German Army (Reichswehr) in 1908. Since then, the Lugers were adopted by many countries and served until probably the 1950s or so, the Luger then began to replace the old M1879 Reichsrevolvers. When America was looking for an automatic pistol for service in the US Army, Georg Luger was one of the many gun designers to offer the Americans an automatic pistol, but Georg faced some stiff compition from nine other guns including the colt 45 automatic pistol made by John Browning, Georg made two Lugers for the test at the Springfield armories in America, tfhe luger was fired one thousand twenty two times under the eyes of American Army officers recording the time of every shot fired, the Luger jammed a few times but so did many guns of the compition, however the American's choose the Colt instead because it seemed during the testing and many Americans wanted a American pistol and not a foreign one, but later the Americans later asked Luger to send a large amount of Lugers for yet another test in the field but this time Georg told the Americans he couldn't, for the Luger was about to be used by the German army. During the course of WW1 the Luger became a popular sovenier for Allied troops, thousands we're taken home by soldiers from Britain and America. In WW 2 the Luger was too old fashioned and was expensive to produce with its complicated design, the Luger also had some jamming problems, the Luger was replaced by the Walther p38 at the start of WW 2, a more modern pistol which was cheaper, used less metal and was very strong, however the Luger was still used by many German troops but its days we're limited. In the late 1940s the Swiss droped the Luger as its main pistol, the age of the Luger was slowly ending with the introduction of new pistols. The Luger today continues to amaze collector's, they are antique's sought at after by gun collector's alike, replica Luger's are still being made to this day. Technical Overview All Parabellums are recoil-operated, locked breech, semi-automatic, striker fired handguns. All Lugers features unique locking system, consisting of two tilting-up bars and short moving barrel. Some early Lugers featured automatic grip safety at the rear side of the grip. All Lugers also featured frame-mounted manual safety at the left side of the gun. Lugers were manufactured with different barrel lengths - standard German army Pistole 08 (Luger M1908) had 102mm barrels; Navy models featured 152mm (6 in) barrels, and Artillery models featured 203mm (8 in) barrels. Commercial models were manufactured with barrels ranging from 98mm up to 350mm (14 in), some in 'carbine' versions, with additional forward handguard and detachable buttstock. All Lugers were very ergonomical and accurate pistols, especially for the period those were developed in. However, all Lugers were too sensitive to fouling and to loose manufacturing tolerances, as well as being too pricey when compared to more modern designs, such as the Browning Hi-Power or the Walther P38. References *Modern Firearms - Luger Parabellum *Wikipedia - Luger P08 Category:Pistols and revolvers